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Electronic |
SOCIOLOGY AND
THE INTERNET
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Note: previous student research papers for this course, based on a somewhat different assignment, can be accessed here.
Making a Preliminary "Census". Your first task will be to see if there is a visible presence on the internet of people trying to use the internet to bring about social change connected with the issue you have chosen. (If not, you will need to choose a different topic.) This should be done in at least three ways:
- Check out searching sites like Liszt,
onelist.com, and eGroups.com
to locate relevant electronic discussion groups. Try to identify as
many of the relevant listserves as you can and make a list for your own purposes.
Choose one or two to subscribe to and go ahead and subscribe to them (making sure that
they are still active). The discussions on these listserves can constitute very useful
data, but it is important to access and use these data in ethical ways (see below).
- Check out your group's presence on the world wide web in the
form of web pages. Check web directories like Yahoo to
see if there is a subcategory that is likely to include your group. Try out various
internet search engines, such as Alta Vista Advanced and other internet search engines
to see if there are web sites by members of the group you have chosen, and see if these
sites tend to be linked to each other and/or provide a location for people with similar
interests to post their own contributions. While it is unlikely you can locate all
relevant webpages, try to make a rough estimate of their number (a handful?
dozens? hundreds? thousands?)
- Check out Usenet newsgroups (also called bulletin boards) by running a search at Deja News or Cyberfiber Newsgroups to find relevant newsgroups and postings. As with listserves, try to take a rough census of the active bulletin boards that deal with the issue you have chosen. In keeping track of bulletin board activity, you may either periodically make a search using one of the searching sites listed above or you may choose one or two bulletin boards and subscribe to them. (Alternatively, you may choose a chat room or a MUD which in which people communicate about the issue you have chosen, but in most instances bulletin boards will probably be most relevant.)
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For your first paper assignment, you should
provide me 1) a statement of the issue you have chosen; 2) a rough census of level
of activity (the number of relevant listserves and newsgroups/bulletin boards, and a rough
indication of number of websites); 3) the name of at least one listserve that you have
subscribed to; 4) the name of at least one bulletin board, chat room, or MUD that seems
particularly important or useful to study. You should also post a similar message to the class listserv, indicating what issue you have chosen, describing what evidence of internet activity you have found so far, and asking your classmates to send you internet citations for any relevant material they happen to discover. This part of the research paper assignment should be completed by Tuesday, Feb. 22nd. |
Researching in an Ethical Manner. In online research, the distinction between what is "public" and what is "private" is often difficult to make. Furthermore, while some potential forms of harm that research might cause cannot occur in a virtual context, other, new types can, e.g. the harm to an online groups's sense of privacy and trust. Ethical standards for online research are still being worked out, and to some degree will always depend on the particular context. In general, the key values in cyberspace research are not unique: 1) to protect subjects from harm that might be caused by the research process or outcome; 2) to produce high-quality social science research; and 3) to avoid disrupting the phenomena being studied (Allen 1996). While we will discuss these issues more fully in class, please follow the following guidelines in carrying out and writing up your research:
- Observe any rules that are sent to you when you subscribe to listserves.
- Use pseudonyms to refer to listserves or newsgroups/bulletin boards
- Never refer directly to any online participant by name and avoid discussing participants in ways in which they could identify themselves
- If you do want to quote someone, obtain their consent to do so
- Maintain an unobtrusive presence online
Three Things to be Looking For Online: In monitoring online activity in listserves, on the web, and in newsgroups, you should be thinking about the following three issues:
1) how the internet is being used by the group
you are studying, e.g.
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2) whether you find evidence of virtual
community, e.g.
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3) whether you find evidence of collective
action, e.g.
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| A useful strategy is to develop your own classification scheme and to keep a count of listserve and bulletin board postings recording how often these different activities are found. |
Surveying the Literature: The published academic literature on the internet is recent and rapidly-growing. I expect you to be familiar with the relevant course readings, and to draw on them where relevant. I also expect you to have searched, located and read at least some of the relevant published literature on your subject. Exercise 3 is designed to help you begin this process.
Your Research Questions: Your research report should integrate relevant course material, your literature review, and the data you collected online from the three internet arenas to address the following questions:
- What issue-based group on the internet did you chose to study? What kind of social change are these people trying to bring about? What relevant literature were you able to find?
- What forms does this group's presence on the internet take? Provide a "census" of the group's presence in listserves, websites, and bulletin boards.
- How are these people using the internet? What are they doing online?
- Would you say that these people constitute a "virtual community"? On what basis do you conclude this?
- How is this group attempting to use the internet to bring about social change? What types of collective action are being pursued? Is the group being successful in its efforts? Does your case study suggest that the internet is becoming a force for social change?
Writing Your Research Paper: Length may vary, but I would expect most papers to be approximately 10-12 typed pages, plus an annotated appendix of relevant web sites. Be sure you address the questions above.
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Your Research Paper Your report should be provided in two forms:
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Papers are due no later than Thursday, April 20th. All satisfactory papers will be placed on the class website for the whole world to see and learn from. Make it something you feel proud of! You will also be expected to make a brief oral presentation about your project to the class. The paper counts for 25% of your grade for the course.
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